Package for frozen foods and the like



Oct. 7, 1952 w. AfRiNGLER 2,513,025

PACKAGE FOR FROZEN FOODS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 2, 1947 "2 Sl-lEETS-Si-IEET 1 3 INVENTOR.

17 MA L/AM IFNGL! ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 7; 1952 w. A. RINGLEFQ 2,613,025

PACKAGE. FOR FROZEN FOODS AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 2, 1947 1 z swans-swam 2 INVENTOR. MAL/AM 4. flay/.5

RTTO R N EYS.

Patented Oct. 7, 1952 PACKAGE FOR FROZEN FOODS AND THE LIKE William A. Ringler, Wayne, Pa,l assignor'to The Gardner Board and Carton. 00., a corporation of Ohio Application January 2, 1947';:SeriaIiNo..719;889 I The; principal. object of, this invention. is the provision of a sealed packagaand a structure frompwhich it may be made, having" noveladvantages of. simplicity, economy, and practicability. I

I It", is anobject of the invention to provide a packaging structure of one-piece character asfurnished to the user, and a structurewhich maysbe.

sh pped; to himin fiat form.

It L iszan object. of. the invention. to: provide. a. package structuretof one-piece characterinwhich; aregcombined the. strength advantages. of. the paperboard; carton. and the sanitary andyproa tective advantages ofaliner- I i ltlisgan objectof the invention to provide simple and inexpensive modes of. manufacture. for. such structures.

Itwis; an obj ect. of; the invention to. provide. a, package structure which may be set up; filled, closed; and sealed by the user; in a simple fashion and without the use of elaboratemechanismxor. tools; and in this connection it is a. further objecttogprovidea package structure; which maybe set up, filled, closed: and sealed by handtoperae tionsaidedonly byya: form or mandreland means for applyingpheat, although my structureis also adapted for mechanization. 9

These and othergobjects of. the invention-which will be set.forth hereinafter or will be apparent: to-one skilled. in the art upon reading these specifications, I accomplish by: those procedures tandinthose articles; of which I shallv now describe an. exemplary embodiment: in: the form of a :package ior, frozenfoods itbeing understood, howeverthat my packaging.structuresiand methods are of general application... Reference is made to thelaccompanying drawingswhereinr Figure l is, aplan view of my packaging structure in the form in which it.:may be sent to the usen,

Figure;2 is a partial sectional view. takenalong theline2-2 of Figurel. i

Figures 3 to 6 are perspective viewsillustrative of successive steps in the operation of settingupx the package for-the receipt of contents l I Figure 7 is a perspective view of aninitial' of successive steps. in another modeof setting up.

thepackage.

Figure 12 is a persp ective views of the set-up package ready to receive contents.

Figure 13 is a perspective viewrof,thefinished,

closed and sealed; package;

2 Claims. (01. 2295-31) Briefiy;in the. practice of my invention, I come binea boxboard: carton: blank with one or more sheets, of protective film -like substance, the. sheets preferably being adhered to the blank throughout its entire area. The boxboard blank, however, unlike the :usual blanks, consists merely of the panels forming the enclosing walls of the strucav ture and is, devoid of connecting means between the edges of wall panels which, in the erected structure, lie atan angle to each other with said edges contiguous. In other words, the blank-is of.

such character that by itself it would notiorm a se1f-sustaining structurein the erected form.

The sheet or sheets of protective film are larger in area than the blank, and not only give protection to the contents of the package and protect the boxboard blank from straining or weakening due to internal. or external conditions of moisture or the like, but serve as thecjonnecting means between the contiguous but otherwise free edgesof blankpanels which lie at right angles to each other in the erected structure. It is preferable. to sandwich the blank between sheets of the protective film.

I am not restricted to any particular type of sheet material for what I have called the protective film. Paper, glassine or similar substance may be employed with suitable adhesives. I prefer the amorphous films of commerce, of which there are many. A film with heat-sealing characteristics is desirable. It may be pointed out that moisture-proof cellophane, which has a thin,

external coating of thermoplastic substance is blank. Dot-dash lines indicate ultimate fold linesin the sheet material. The boxboard blank of the exemplary embodiment consists of a bottom panel I, a front wall 3, a back wall 4, endwalls 5 and 6 and a top I.

side of; thepblanky butas indicated I preferto- These members are in articulation alongthe score'lines shown. I emcoating the boxboard blank or th sheets with adhesive and assembling them together. If the adhesive is thermoplastic the assembly may then be subjected to heat and sufiicient pressure to cause the parts to conform; and the heat will not only produce adhesive union of the sheets to the blank but will cause the sheets to adhere to each other off the edges of the blank, if the sheets are made of heat-sealing material or of moisture-proof cellophane as set forth above. Where the sheets are capable of heat-sealing, it is not necessary that they be adhered together all the edges of the blank in the article of Figure 1 since such adhes'ion will be produced during the final closure of the package. 'But if the sheets do not have this quality, then one or the other should be coated onthe inner surface with a thermoplastic adhesive.

The boxboard blank or the sheets may be printed as desired, and wherethe outer sheet at least is of transparent film a highly attractive appearance is attained by printing the blank. Any of the panels of the blank may be provided with a window opening or cut-out, which, covered with the transparent sheets, will provide a package in which the contents will be visible for inspection without opening the package.

The assembly illustrated in Figure l is the article in the form shipped to the packager. The operations involved in setting up and closing the package as hereinafter described are operations which may be performed by machine; but they may also be performed by hand. I provide a mandrel it having a top surface of substantially the same dimensions as the bottom panel I of the boxboard blank. The blank is placed on the mandrel as indicated in Figure 3 with this panel against the said top surface, whereupon the front wall 3 and back and top wall portions of the package are bent over against the respective sides of the mandrel as in Figure 4. When the end walls 5 and 6 are bent over against the respective ends of the mandrel, the connecting webs H I 2, I3

and M will fold bellows-wise forming triangular ears. These are bent over against the end walls and adhered thereto, as may be done where sheets 8 and 9 are of moisture-proof cellophane, Pliofilm, or other heat-sealable substance, simply by pressing with a hot iron. It the sheets are notheat-sealable, or if only one sheet is used and lies on the inner surface of the boxboard blank so that it becomes necessary to seal the ears directly to a boxboard surface, adhesive may be applied at this stage. The mandrel furnishes a support against which pressing may be done.

The set-up package ready to receive contents is shown in Figure 6. When it has been filled, the top panel 7 is bent over in place, and the extending flange (5 of sheet material is brought against and sealed to the front wall 3. The contents will usually furnish sufficient support for this; but additional support may be obtained by engaging the edge of the wall, against which pressure is to be exerted in sealing, over the edge of the adjacent wall. In-this instance, the

top panel 1 is depressed slightly to bring its edge behind the edge of the front wall 3 during the sealing of the flange l5.

Next, corner portions [6 and ll of the sheet material are folded inwardly and adhered against the end walls 5 and 6 of the package, and finally the side flanges l8 and i9 are folded down and sealed against the end walls. The ultimate closed and sealed condition of the pack-age is shown in Figure 8.

Another mode of setting up the exemplary structure is shown in Figures 9 to 12. A mandrel 20 is provided having a top surface substantially the same in dimensions as the rear Wall 4 of the boxboard blank. Thepackage structure is laid on the mandrel as shown in Figure 9. The top wall 1 and the bottom I together with the front wall 3 are bent over respectively against the sides of the mandrel as in Figure 10. The end walls 5 and 6 of the blank are now folded over against the end portions of the mandrel. This folds the web portions H and I3 diagonally. They are then folded downwardly, after which the side flanges l8 and it along the top 7 are folded-in. the relationship of parts now appearingas in Figure 11. The parts are adhesively joined by heat or otherwise.

The structure may now be taken from the mandrel and upended as in Figure 12. It is ready for filling. through a narrow end, as willbe evident. After filling, the front wall 3 will be folded down, the web ortions [2 and [6 on one end and I4 and I! on the other will be folded in, and finally the flange 15 will be folded'over, the relationship of parts appearing as in Figure 13. A seal will be effected by heat or otherwise as before. Because of the narrowness of the front wall 3 it is easier to bring it edge over the edge of the-top 1 to secure support during the sealing of the flange I5.

It will be noted that in my complete structure, the package is maintained in erected condition by the action of the sheet material, which forms the connection between contiguous edges of the front, end, and back walls, and the connection between the edges of the top wall and the end and front walls. The size and shape of the package, including the number and placement of the body walls, forms nolimitation on the invention, andmay be widely varied. I

Other modifications may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit of it. Having thus described my invention in an exemplary embodiment what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a package structure for the purposes described, a boxboard blank consisting only of a front wall, a bottom wall, a rear wall, and a top wall in articulation in the order named, and end wallsarticulated to opposite end edges of said bottom wall, and a sheet of thinner flexible material in adhesive union with said blank, said sheet having a width substantially equal to the combined widths of said bottom wall and said end walls, and having a length somewhat greater than the combined lentghs of said front, bottom, rear and top walls, said sheet being positioned so that three side edges thereof substantially coincide with the outer edges of said front wall and said end walls, so as to provide free areas ofsheet material extending beyond the end edges of said front wall, said rear wall and said top wall, and an additional free area of sheet material extending beyond the free side edge of said top wall, the areas of sheeting extending beyond the ends of said front and rear walls constituting bellowsfolding connecting webs serving to connect the otherwise unsecured end edges of the said front, rear and end walls to each other, the areas of sheet material extending beyond the free side edge and the end edges of said top wall constituting a peripheral flange serving to connect the top wall to said front wall and said end walls.

2. The structure claimed in claim 1 in which said boxboard blank is sandwiched between two sheets of said flexible material.

WILLIAM A. RINGLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Martyn May 11, 1875 Church June 25, 1889 Meech Feb. 21, 1893 Birnie et a1. Mar. 11, 1902 Mitchell Dec. 4, 1906 Hahn Aug. .27, 1907 Eckstein Mar. 10, 1908 Christensen Apr. 13, 1915 Borchers Feb. 5, 1924 Coale Man. 5, 1929 Gruger June 8, 1943 Moore Sept. 12, 1944 Moore Aug. 14, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Number Great Britain Feb. 14, 1929 

